Ritter, Johann Wilhelm (1776–1810)

German physicist, born in Samitz (then Silesia, Germany, now Chojnow, Poland),
who, among other achievements, discovered ultraviolet
light and made the first dry cell battery. After working for five years
as an apprentice to a pharmacist, Ritter, aged 19, came into a small inheritance
which allowed him to enter the University of Jena. There, he benefited from
the scientific mentorship of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), who
reinforced his interests in electrical experiments. In 1801 Ritter was appointed
to the court of Ernst II, Duke of Gotha-Altenburg, and in 1804 moved to
the Bavarian Academy of Science in Munich, where he remained until his untimely
death on January 23, 1810.

Ritter was interested primarily in electricity, in particular electrochemistry and electrophysiology, areas in which he made many remarkable discoveries.
In 1799 he carried out the electrolysis of water, and in 1800 investigated the process of electroplating.
In 1801 he observed thermoelectric currents, and investigated the artificial
electrical excitation of muscles. In 1802-1803 he built the first dry cell
battery and accumulator.

In 1801 Ritter discovered ultraviolet radiation by chemical means. This
foray into spectroscopy was motivated
by the discovery of infrared radiation by William Herschel in 1800, coupled to
his general belief in electrical polarity pervading Nature: invisible radiation
beyond the visible red simply had to be paired to invisible radiation beyond
the violet, a speculation in line with the Naturphilosophie he espoused
when engaging in philosophical theorizing.

Ritter had a difficult writing style, a marked tendency to speculate to
excess, and procrastinated heavily when it came to publishing detailed accounts
of his investigations and discoveries. For these reasons, many of his findings
went unnoticed, only to be soon independently rediscovered by other scientists.
In the last years of his life, his scientific credibility was also damaged
by his interest in occult phenomena, and more importantly by the inability
of other scientists to reproduce his experiments in this area. Thus dismissed
by most of his scientific peers, facing severe financial difficulties and
family illnesses, Ritter died an embittered man a few weeks after his thirty-third
birthday. It took over a century before his scientific work was given due
credit.